Goodbye is Forever
by TripleC Squared
Summary: Sometimes, all that is left to us are those last moments.


  
  
  
  


She was Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt, she was married to one of the Sons of the gods, She had born the Prince, And she had never felt more helpless in her entire life. "I Don't understand. Why do you have to kill him? He's the Pharaoh, Son of the gods, cannot some other be used to seal the shadow realm?" She asked, turning pleading black eyes on her husband's most trusted adviser. 

  
  


"Your highness, one of pure heart with enormous shadow powers must be used to seal the other items. Spirits, or magic powers will be sealed into each one." He explained again. 

  
  


She bowed her head, tears trickling down her face. "Why can't I see him?" She whispered. 

  
  


"He's being prepared for the ceremony, Highness. You would be a distraction." He replied calmly.

  
  


"But they're going to -KILL- him! I'll never get to see him again!! I want to at least say goodbye!" She said, whirling on him. "Please? Can't you just let me say goodbye?"

  
  


"No, Highness. Stay with your son. The Pharaoh would not even know you were there, he is too far gone with the potions they have given his to lessen the pain of the separation of his soul from his body." The adviser was still stone calm, not seeming to care that in a matter of three days his king and friend would be killed.

  
  


"Surely there's not harm in me seeing him then." The Queen replied, one hand clutched to her breast. "And it would lessen the pain in my heart to see him one last time." 

  
  


"I'm sorry." He replied, not looking at her. 

  
  


"Seto! Please? I beg of you. Let me see him." She cried, grasping his upper arm, her black eyes once more overflowing with tears of mourning. "Let me touch his face one last time, let me kiss his lips while blood still flows through his body, let me say his name and tell him how much I love him." Her voice was raw with emotion as she pled. "Let me say goodbye and promise I'll take care of our son." 

  
  


"It is forbidden." Seto replied, trying to ignore her voice. "In three days when the sun rises, he and the other six will die. No one but the priests are allowed near them." He jerked his arm out of her grasp. "May the gods watch over you, Your Highness."

  
  


The Queen fell to the floor, her hands cupping her face as she sobbed.

  
  


***

She was not supposed to be here and yet, she could not stay away. Her eyes moved this way and that under her hood, one delicate hand holding a bit of the dark cloak over her face. It would be dawn soon. She would not be denied entrance again. She shrank against the wall as the guards past, then slipped inside the room. Her eyes adjusting to the light, she looked around. Searching for the one she loved. The room was shaped strangely. Six walls, each one with one of the doomed infront of it, surrounded her, But she didn't care. Her eyes were only for the altar in the center of the shape.

  
  
  
  


With a choked sob she started forward, allowing the cloak to fall away from her face as she approached, her eyes drank in the sight of the torch-lit figure laying on the cool, unforgiving stone. "Pharaoh." She breathed, reaching out and taking one of his ice-cold hands in her own. 

  
  


The man laying on the table moved slightly at her touch, but did not wake.

  
  


"Oh, Beloved, it pains me to see you like this . . . " She whispered, pressing his hand against her cheek in anguish. It felt like he had died already and she was in mourning. With careful steps she moved closer still, brushing an errant strand of hair out of his face with tender fingers. Two weeks only they'd been apart and already she felt she was dying inside. What would happen when he was really gone? For good. "The sun is my enemy, Pray, Ra do not let it rise." She whispered, tears splashing on his face.

  
  


He stirred with a small groan, and she held her breath. Praying for him to wake and turn those beloved crimson eyes on her one last time. "Lashina?" He whispered, eyes half opened, the word flowing smoothly from his tongue, though she knew he'd not used it in these three weeks except to scream in pain. 

  
  


"Here, Pharaoh." She responded instinctively, then lowered her head further, tears making wet spots on the table. 

  
  


"The sun . . . ?" He rasped, his voice no longer smooth but tired and cracked with pain. 

  
  


"It has not risen yet, and will not do so for many hours yet." She whispered, still clinging to his hand like a life line. 

  
  


He stopped trying to sit up. "That is good . . . " He murmured, then turned his eyes to look at her closer. "Beloved, You cry, what is the matter?" 

  
  


Her last shred of control broke like twine in a sandstorm and she fell to her knees, clinging to his hand and sobbing her heart out. "Pray, Beloved Pharaoh, kill me now. Do not make me live one more moment without you." She wept. 

  
  


He rolled on his side, his hand shaky as he lifted her chin and rubbed away her tears with a tender thumb. "No, no. Don't weep for me, Beloved. I have chosen this path, and you must be strong for our son. The god's dem-" He began.

  
  


"Curse the gods. I do not care!" She cried, her eyes aflame with sorrow. "If they do not answer my prayers to keep you alive, then I shall pray no more!"

  
  


"Beloved, do not say that." He whispered, his eyes heavy and the drug still very active in his system. "If the priests were to hear they'd have your head."

  
  


"My heart is breaking. I spoke rashly." She murmured, repentant, though tears still traced her cheeks. "But there has to be another way." Her eyes begged him to figure out some plan. 

  
  


"Silly woman." He muttered, an almost teasing edge in his voice. "You know there's not." 

  
  


She bowed her head, trying to regain control over her frayed emotions. "I know. Seto told me. I did not want to believe him." She whispered, then clutched her hand to her breast. "I would kill myself with the same dagger they slay you with." 

  
  


"No, that would leave our son alone." The Pharaoh vetoed quickly. "And that would bring you nothing but death, while my spirit would remain trapped." 

  
  


"He will not be a child forever." She said in response. "And life here will not be life at all without you." 

  
  


"Do not speak in such a way, Beloved." He scolded her, using what little strength he had remaining to pull her to her feet.

  
  


Almost sensing what he wanted her to do, she climbed up on the table beside him and wrapped her arms around him. This would be the last time she ever held him, she thought, as she drifted off into sleep. The last time ever.

  
  


***

She wanted to strangle Seto when he woke her in the morning. Priests and Priestesses were gathered around the table on which she and he beloved lay. She sat up, clutching her beloved's hand in her own and glaring at the adviser. 

  
  


"I told you not to come here." Seto said calmly, as though all she'd done was tip a water pot, not invade the Priests' domain.

  
  


"It is right that she should be here." One of the women said, a dagger in her right hand. "It is good. She will be able to make it easier on the Pharaoh to leave his body behind." 

  
  


Her eyes widened in horror. They would make her watch. They would make her help kill her beloved Pharaoh. 

  
  


"This will teach you not to stick your nose where it dosent belong, Your Highness." Seto warned her as the woman moved to one of the other doomed. 

  
  


Of corse, her beloved would be last. He was the only willing one in the bunch. 

  
  


She heard an angry hiss from the albino, but ignored it and cradled her beloved's head in her lap, her fingers running through already messed up hair.

  
  


***

It took them hours to finish with the other six, by the time they got to her beloved, the woman's hands were stained with blood and the dagger dripped with it. 

  
  


She watched with morbid fascination as the ritual began. 

  
  


First the woman cut an eye into his forehead, they must have given her beloved something else while she was asleep for he didn't twitch as the dagger sliced his flesh, then the Priestess sprinkled some kind of colored dust into the cut, causing the blood to glow for a moment. Then she cut an even more cryptic symbol into his chest, sprinkling the powder there as well. The Hieroglyphics glowed faintly in the torchlight, two tears escaped from her eyes, falling into the cut on his forehead. The Priestess gasped, glancing at the wound to note any changes before letting out the breath she'd been holding. 

  
  


"Do not cry!" She ordered the Queen. "You could ruin everything with your tears." 

  
  


She bowed her head in apology, then gasped, her own eyes opening wide. Her beloved's eyes were open. She begin to speak, words running over one another as she told him how much she loved him and how much she wished for another way, anything that came to mind she told him.

  
  


He smiled faintly up at her, though she knew he had to be hurting, the cuts weren't shallow by any stretch of imagination. "This must be the point where we say farewell." He whispered. 

  
  


The Priestess had her dagger hovering right over his heart, watching this last goodbye.

  
  


With sorrow, she nodded, swallowing her tears in an attempt to look brave. "Yes." She whispered. 

  
  


"Do not cry, my love. Goodbye is not forever, you know. We'll meet again, Someday . . . " He whispered. 

  
  


"Someday is too long to wait." She replied. "Already my soul crumbles and my mind becomes useless at the thought of losing you." 

  
  


His hand tenderly stroked her cheek and she cradled it close, memorizing his touch. Her eyes closed tightly, the only indication of the dagger striking home she was given was a gasp and a shudder shaking the hand she held. Still, she did not open her eyes. The puzzle, laid at her Beloved's feet, glowed white as it accepted the soul energy it was give. Her eyes . . . remained shut. 

  
  


***

The coolness of the wind brushed her cheek, and for a moment she fancied she felt a hand rest against it for a brief second. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared up at the moon. "You were wrong, My love. Goodbye is forever." She whispered.

  
  
  
  


A/N: Gah . . . Where did THAT come from . . . ? I hate it when that happens. So, what do you people think of my one shot? It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was PLANING on it just being about the Queen. Yami (If you people didn't guess that was who our dearly departed Pharaoh was, I'm worried) Was not supposed to be in there and she was not supposed to be there when he died. Review, make me a happy author. 


End file.
